Modern antidepressant drugs should not be given to children and teenagers because of the increased risk of self-harm and suicide, European medical experts warned today.

A review of the drugs, which include Prozac and Seroxat, by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) concluded that these antidepressants should not be used to treat depression and anxiety in children or adolescents, contrary to advice from the UK medicines regulator.

The UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) last year approved Prozac for use in children. But its inquiry into this group of antidepressants, known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), advised doctors against prescribing other SSRIs to this age group.

Mental health charities warned that the conflicting guidance could leave doctors and patients confused about the use and safety of the drugs.

Andrew McCulloch, the chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation, said: "Clinicians working with depressed children are being put in an impossible situation. They do not know what to do for the best."

The Department of Health denied that the MHRA's guidelines were putting children at risk. A spokeswoman said: "The UK is the only country in Europe to have issued comprehensive advice about the use of all SSRIs in children."

The EMA's committee for medicinal products for human use, which reviewed data from SSRI clinical trials, will inform the European Commission that there are "public health concerns" about the use of the drugs in children and young people. The expert panel has also called for further investigation of the antidepressants' safety.

The committee said: "These compounds should generally not be used in this age group because clinical trials have shown an increased risk of suicidal behaviour (such as suicide attempts and suicidal thoughts)."

No SSRIs are licensed for the treatment of depression and anxiety in children, but doctors can prescribe them at their own discretion. The committee stated that where doctors decided to use SSRIs on the basis of clinical need, young patients should be carefully monitored for the appearance of suicidal behaviour, self-harm and hostility.

Growing numbers of children in the UK are taking antidepressants. At the end of 2003, more than 50,000 children were being given the medication, with more than 170,000 prescriptions issued to under-18s in the UK.

Earlier this week, the MHRA recommended that family doctors offer depressed patients alternatives to antidepressants, such as counselling. Its judgement followed concern that antidepressants were being over-prescribed to people with mild depression who did not really need them.

The EMA's findings come as research published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) today warned that prescribing children SSRIs was ineffective and possibly harmful.

Sami Timimi, a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist in Lincolnshire, also questioned the validity of labelling unhappiness in children as depression.